Neural architecture search for convolutional neural networks

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for determining neural network architectures. One of the methods includes generating, using a controller neural network having controller parameters and in accordance with current values of the controller parameters, a batch of output sequences. The method includes, for each output sequence in the batch: generating an instance of a child convolutional neural network (CNN) that includes multiple instances of a first convolutional cell having an architecture defined by the output sequence; training the instance of the child CNN to perform an image processing task; and evaluating a performance of the trained instance of the child CNN on the task to determine a performance metric for the trained instance of the child CNN; and using the performance metrics for the trained instances of the child CNN to adjust current values of the controller parameters of the controller neural network.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of U.S. ApplicationSerial No. 16/674,801, filed on Nov. 5, 2019, which is a continuationapplication of U.S. Application Serial No. 16/040,067, filed on Jul. 19,2018, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application SerialNo. 62/535,806, filed on Jul. 21, 2017. The entire contents of each arehereby incorporated by reference in the disclosure of this application.

BACKGROUND

This specification relates to determining architectures forconvolutional neural networks.

Neural networks are machine learning models that employ one or morelayers of nonlinear units to predict an output for a received input.Some neural networks include one or more hidden layers in addition to anoutput layer. The output of each hidden layer is used as input to thenext layer in the network, i.e., the next hidden layer or the outputlayer. Each layer of the network generates an output from a receivedinput in accordance with current values of a respective set ofparameters.

Some neural networks are recurrent neural networks. A recurrent neuralnetwork is a neural network that receives an input sequence andgenerates an output sequence from the input sequence. In particular, arecurrent neural network can use some or all of the internal state ofthe network from a previous time step in computing an output at acurrent time step. An example of a recurrent neural network is a longshort term (LSTM) neural network that includes one or more LSTM memoryblocks. Each LSTM memory block can include one or more cells that eachinclude an input gate, a forget gate, and an output gate that allow thecell to store previous states for the cell, e.g., for use in generatinga current activation or to be provided to other components of the LSTMneural network.

SUMMARY

This specification describes a system implemented as computer programson one or more computers in one or more locations that determines anetwork architecture for a convolutional neural network by determiningan architecture for a convolutional cell that is repeated throughout thenetwork architecture.

The subject matter described in this specification can be implemented inparticular embodiments so as to realize one or more of the followingadvantages. By predicting the architecture of one or more types ofconvolutional cells and then re-using the same architecture for eachconvolutional cell of that type that appears in the convolutional neuralnetwork, the system effectively limits the search space of possiblearchitectures without adversely affecting and, in some cases, evenimproving the performance of the resulting architecture. Thus, byeffectively limiting the search space of possible architectures asdescribed in this specification, the system can determine anarchitecture that matches or exceeds the performance of architecturesdiscovered by other techniques that search a larger space ofarchitectures while using many fewer computational resources than theother techniques. Additionally, the system can effectively determine thearchitecture of the convolutional cells on a smaller data set and thenre-use the same cell architecture across a range of data andcomputational scales. In particular, the system can effectively employthe resulting learned architecture to perform image processing taskswith reduced computational budgets that match or outperform streamlinedarchitectures targeted to mobile and embedded platforms.

The details of one or more embodiments of the subject matter describedin this specification are set forth in the accompanying drawings and thedescription below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of thesubject matter will become apparent from the description, the drawings,and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example neural architecture search system.

FIG. 2A shows an example operation block of the first convolutionalcell.

FIG. 2B is a diagram of an example of the controller neural networkgenerating an output sequence.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example process for updating currentvalues of controller parameters.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This specification describes a system implemented as computer programson one or more computers in one or more locations that determines, usinga controller neural network, a network architecture for a childconvolutional neural network by determining an architecture for a firstconvolutional cell that is repeated throughout the network architecture.The child convolutional neural network (CNN) is configured to perform animage processing task.

Generally, the child CNN is configured to receive an input image and toprocess the input image to generate a network output for the inputimage. For example, the output generated by the neural network for agiven image may be scores for each of a set of object categories, witheach score representing an estimated likelihood that the image containsan image of an object belonging to the category. As another example, theoutput generated by the neural network can be a numeric embedding of theinput image. As yet another example, the output generated by the neuralnetwork can identify locations in the input image at which particulartypes of objects are depicted.

FIG. 1 shows an example neural architecture search system 100. Theneural architecture search system 100 is an example of a systemimplemented as computer programs on one or more computers in one or morelocations, in which the systems, components, and techniques describedbelow can be implemented.

The neural architecture search system 100 is a system that obtainstraining data 102 for training a convolutional neural network to performa particular task and a validation set 104 for evaluating theperformance of the convolutional neural network on the particular taskand uses the training data 102 and the validation set 104 to determinean network architecture for a child CNN that is configured to performthe image processing task. In particular, the system 100 determines,using a controller neural network, a network architecture for a childCNN by determining an architecture for a first convolutional cell thatis repeated throughout the network architecture. That is, the child CNNincludes multiple instances of the first convolutional cell. The numberof filters of convolutional operations within the instances of the firstconvolutional cell may differ based on a position of the instanceswithin the child CNN.

Generally, the training data 102 and the validation set 104 both includea set of input images and, for each input image, a respective targetoutput that should be generated by the child CNN to perform the imageprocessing task. For example, a larger set of training data may havebeen randomly partitioned to generate the training data 102 and thevalidation set 104.

The system 100 can receive the training data 102 and the validation set104 in any of a variety of ways. For example, the system 100 can receivetraining data as an upload from a remote user of the system over a datacommunication network, e.g., using an application programming interface(API) made available by the system 100, and randomly divide the uploadeddata into the training data 102 and the validation set 104. As anotherexample, the system 100 can receive an input from a user specifyingwhich data that is already maintained by the system 100 should be usedfor training the convolutional neural network, and then divide thespecified data into the training data 102 and the validation set 104.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the neural architecture search system 100 includesa controller neural network 110, a training engine 120, and a controllerparameter updating engine 130.

The controller neural network 110 is a neural network that hasparameters, referred to in this specification as “controllerparameters.” In particular, the controller neural network is a recurrentneural network that includes one or more recurrent neural network layersand one or more output layers. An output layer can be a softmax neuralnetwork layer. An example architecture of the controller neural networkis described in more detail below with reference to FIG. 2B.

The controller neural network 110 is configured to generate a batch ofoutput sequences in accordance with the controller parameters. Eachoutput sequence generated by the controller neural network 110 defines arespective possible architecture for a first convolutional cell and,optionally, one or more other convolutional cells that are also repeatedthroughout the child convolutional neural network. The firstconvolutional cell is configured to receive a cell input and to generatea cell output. The cell output may have a same dimension as the cellinput, e.g., the same height, width, and depth. For example, the firstconvolutional cell may receive a feature map as input and to generate anoutput feature map having the same dimension as the input feature map.

The first convolutional cell includes a sequence of B operation blocks,where B is a predetermined positive integer. For example, B can bethree, five, or ten. Each operation block in the first convolutionalcell receives one or more respective input hidden states and generates arespective output hidden state. An example architecture of an operationblock is described in more detail below with reference to FIG. 2A.

Each output sequence includes a respective output at each of multipletime steps and each time step in the output sequence corresponds to adifferent hyperparameter of the architecture of the first convolutionalcell. Thus, each output sequence includes, at each time step, arespective value of the corresponding hyperparameter. Collectively, thevalues of the hyperparameters in a given output sequence define anarchitecture for the first convolutional cell. Generally, ahyperparameter is a setting that affects the operations that areperformed by the first convolutional cell. Hyperparameters of the firstconvolutional cell are set prior to the commencement of the training ofa child CNN having multiple instances of the first convolutional cell.These hyperparameters are not learned during the training of the childCNN, i.e., these hyperparameters do not change during the training ofthe child CNN. Output sequences and possible hyperparameters arediscussed in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 2A-2B and 3 .

In some implementations, each output sequence in the batch furtherdefines an architecture for a second convolutional cell configured toreceive a second cell input and to generate a second cell output havinga smaller height, a smaller width, or both from the second cell input.For example, the second convolutional cell may receive a feature map asinput and generate an output feature map where the feature map heightand width are reduced by a factor of two. Similar to the firstconvolutional cell, the second convolutional cell includes a sequence ofoperation blocks, where the number of operation blocks in the secondconvolutional cell is a predetermined positive integer. The secondconvolutional cell may have the same number of operation blocks as thefirst convolutional cell (i.e., B blocks). Each operation block in thesecond convolutional cell receives one or more respective input hiddenstates and generates a respective output hidden state. In theseimplementations, an instance of the child CNN for each output sequencealso includes multiple instances of the second convolutional cell havingthe architecture defined by the output sequence. For example, aninstance of the child CNN may include (i) three instances of the firstconvolutional cell, and (ii) two or three instances of the secondconvolutional cell.

In these implementations, each output sequence includes a respectiveoutput at each of multiple time steps and each time step in the outputsequence corresponds to a different hyperparameter of the architectureof the first convolutional cell and the second convolutional cell. Thus,each output sequence includes, at each time step, a respective value ofthe corresponding hyperparameter. Collectively, the values of thehyperparameters in a given output sequence define an architecture forthe first convolutional cell and the second convolutional cell.Generally, a hyperparameter is a setting that affects the operationsthat are performed by the first convolutional cell or the secondconvolutional cell. Hyperparameters of the first convolutional cell andthe second convolutional cell are set prior to the commencement of thetraining of a child CNN having multiple instances of the firstconvolutional cell and multiple instances of the second convolutionalcell. These hyperparameters are not learned during the training of thechild CNN, i.e., these hyperparameters do not change during the trainingof the child CNN.

Generally, the system 100 determines the architecture for the firstconvolutional cell by training the controller neural network 110 toadjust the values of the controller parameters.

In particular, during an iteration of the training procedure, the system100 generates a batch of output sequences 112 using the controllerneural network 110 in accordance with current values of the controllerparameters.

For each output sequence in the batch 112, the training engine 120generates an instance of a child CNN that includes multiple instances ofthe first convolutional cell that has the architecture defined by theoutput sequence. Each instance includes the same number of componentsthat are connected in the same directed graph. In particular, eachinstance includes the same number of instances of the first cell atpredetermined positions in the directed graph. However, thearchitectures of the first cells are different between differentinstances. When the output sequence also defines architectures for thesecond convolutional cell, each instance also includes multiple secondconvolutional cells at predetermined positions in the graph.

For example, an instance of the child CNN may include N firstconvolutional cells followed by a second convolutional cell followed byN first convolutional cells followed by a second convolutional cell andfollowed by N first convolutional cells.

As another example, an instance of the child CNN may include one or moresecond convolutional cells, followed by N first convolutional cellsfollowed by a second convolutional cell followed by N firstconvolutional cells followed by a second convolutional cell and followedby N first convolutional cells. N is an integer greater than one.

Each instance may also include other components that have fixedarchitectures and are not defined by the output sequence, i.e., anoutput layer and/or one or more other types of layers at variouspredetermined positions in the directed graph.

The training engine 120 trains an instance of the child CNN to performthe image processing task, i.e., by training the instance on thetraining data 102. The training engine 120 evaluates a performance ofthe trained instance of the child CNN on the image processing task(i.e., by evaluating the performance of the trained instance on thevalidation set 104) to determine a performance metric for the trainedinstance of the child CNN.

The controller parameter updating engine 130 then uses the performancemetrics for the trained instances of the child CNN to adjust the currentvalues of the controller parameters of the controller neural network110. The current values of the controller parameters are adjusted toimprove the expected performance of the architectures defined by theoutput sequences generated by the controller neural network 110 on theimage processing task. Evaluating the performance of trained instancesand updating the current values of the controller parameters isdescribed in more detail below with reference to FIG. 3 .

The system can repeatedly generate batches of output sequences andadjust the values of the controller parameters in the above-describedmanner.

By repeatedly updating the values of the controller parameters in thismanner, the system 100 can train the controller neural network 110 togenerate output sequences that result in child neural networks that haveincreased performance on the image processing task, i.e., to maximizethe expected accuracy on the validation set 104 of the architecturesproposed by the controller neural network 110.

Once trained values of the controller parameters have been determined,i.e., once the training of the controller neural network 110 hassatisfied some termination criteria, the system determines a finalarchitecture for the first convolutional cell (and any otherconvolutional cells that are defined by the output sequences generatedby the controller neural network). For example, the system 100 cangenerate a final output sequence in accordance with the trained valuesof the controller parameters and use the architecture defined by thefinal output sequence as the final architecture for the firstconvolutional cell and any other convolutional cells. As anotherexample, the system 100 can select the output sequence that resulted inthe child CNN that performed the best on the validation set 104 duringthe training and use the architecture defined by the output sequence asthe final architecture of the first convolutional cell and any otherconvolutional cells.

The neural network search system 100 can then output architecture data150 that specifies the architecture of the convolutional neural networkthat includes the first convolutional cell (and any other convolutionalcells that are defined by the output sequences). For example, the outputarchitecture data 150 includes data specifying the operation blocks thatare part of the first convolutional cell and any other convolutionalcells, the connectivity between the operation blocks, the operationsperformed by the operation blocks, and the connectivity between thecells. For example, the neural network search system 100 can output thearchitecture data 150 to the user that submitted the training data.

In some implementations, instead of or in addition to outputting thearchitecture data 150, the system 100 trains an instance of the childCNN having multiple instances of the determined convolutional cell,e.g., either from scratch or to fine-tune the parameter values generatedas a result of training the instance of the child CNN having multipleinstances of the convolutional cell, and then uses the trained child CNNto process requests received by users, e.g., through the API provided bythe system. That is, the system 100 can receive inputs to be processed,use the trained child CNN to process the inputs, and provide the outputsgenerated by the trained child CNN or data derived from the generatedoutputs in response to the received inputs.

After training, the system can generate an architecture for the firstconvolutional cell and/or the second convolutional cell using theadjusted values of the controller parameters. In some cases, the systemcan then generate a computationally-efficient architecture of aconvolutional neural network that includes fewer instances of the firstconvolutional cell and/or fewer instances of the second convolutionalcell than the child CNN instances, where the instances of the firstconvolutional cell (and/or the second convolutional cell) have thegenerated architecture. In some other cases, the system can generate alarger architecture of a convolutional neural network that includes moreinstances of the first convolutional cell and/or more instances of thesecond convolutional cell than the child CNN instances for use in a morecomplex image processing task, where the instances of the firstconvolutional cell (and/or the second convolutional cell) have thegenerated architecture.

FIG. 2A shows an example operation block 200 of the first convolutionalcell.

The operation block 200 is configured to apply a first operation 206 toa first input hidden state 202 to the operation block to generate afirst output. The operation block 200 is configured to apply a secondoperation 208 to a second input hidden state 204 to the operation blockto generate a second output. The operation block 200 is then configuredto apply a combining operation 210 to the first and second outputs togenerate an output hidden state 212 for the operation block. The firstinput hidden state 202, the second input hidden state 204, the firstoperation 206, the second operation 208, and the combining operation 210can be defined by an output sequence generated by a controller neuralnetwork as described in detail below with reference to FIG. 2B. Thefirst convolutional cell can have multiple, i.e., B total, operationblocks arranged in a sequence, with the hyperparameters of each of themultiple operation blocks being defined by the output sequence.

FIG. 2B is a diagram 250 of an example of the controller neural network110 generating an output sequence.

The controller neural network 110 is configured to predict possiblearchitectures for a first convolutional cell that includes B operationblocks. Accordingly, the predictions of the controller neural network110 for the first convolutional cell can be grouped into B groups, whereeach group has a predetermined number of prediction steps that areperformed by the controller neural network 110 in order to determine arespective operation block. That means the total number of predictionsteps performed by the controller neural network 110 is 5xB steps.

The diagram 250 depicts five example prediction steps performed by thecontroller neural network 110 at five time steps t,..., t_(n+4),respectively, during the generation of an output sequence. Thecontroller neural network 110 repeats the above five prediction steps Btimes corresponding to the B operation blocks in the first convolutionalcell. As will be described in more detail below, each of the five timesteps t,..., t_(n+4) corresponds to a different hyperparameter of thearchitecture of the child CNN.

Generally, a hyperparameter is a setting that affects the operationsthat are performed by the first convolutional cell. For example, topredict an architecture of the first convolutional cell that includes asequence of B operation blocks, the controller neural network 110generates an output sequence that includes values for B sets ofhyperparameters. Each set of hyperparameters corresponds to one of the Boperation blocks. For instance, the set of hyperparameters correspondingto the operation block 200 of FIG. 2A includes the followinghyperparameters: a first hyperparameter representing which hidden stateis used as the first input hidden state, a second hyperparameterrepresenting which hidden state is used as the second input hiddenstate, a third hyperparameter representing which operation is used asthe first operation, a fourth hyperparameter representing whichoperation is used as the second operation, and a fifth hyperparameterrepresenting which operation is used as the combing operation to combinethe outputs of first operation and the second operation.

The controller neural network 110 is a recurrent neural network thatincludes one or more recurrent neural network layers, e.g., layer 224,that are configured to, for each time step, receive as input the valueof the hyperparameter corresponding to the preceding time step in thegiven output sequence and to process the input to update a currenthidden state of the recurrent neural network. For example, the recurrentlayers in the controller neural network 110 can be long-short termmemory (LSTM) layers or gated recurrent unit (GRU) layers. In theexample of FIG. 2B, at time step t_(n), the layer 224 receives as inputthe value of the hyperparameter from the preceding time step t_(n-1) andupdates the hidden states of the layer from time step t_(n-1) togenerate as output an updated hidden state 225.

The controller neural network 110 also includes a respective outputlayer for each time step in the output sequence, e.g., output layers214, 216, 218, 220, and 222 for time steps t_(n), t_(n+1), t_(n+2),t_(n+3), and t_(n+4), respectively. Each of the output layers isconfigured to receive an output layer input that includes the updatedhidden state at the time step and to generate an output for the timestep that defines a score distribution over possible values of thehyperparameter at the time step. For example, each output layer canfirst project the output layer input into the appropriate dimensionalityfor the number of possible values for the corresponding hyperparameterand then apply a softmax to the projected output layer input to generatea respective score for each of multiple possible values for thehyperparameter at the time step.

To generate a hyperparameter value for a given time step in an outputsequence, the system 100 provides as input to the controller neuralnetwork 110 the value of the hyperparameter at the preceding time stepin the output sequence and the controller neural network 110 generatesan output for the time step that defines a score distribution overpossible values of the hyperparameter at the time step. For the veryfirst time step in the output sequence, because there is no precedingtime step, the system 100 can instead provide a pre-determinedplaceholder input. The system 100 then samples from the possible valuesin accordance with the score distribution to determine the value of thehyperparameter at the time step in the output sequence. The possiblevalues that a given hyperparameter can take are fixed prior to thetraining of the child CNN and the number of possible values can bedifferent for different hyperparameters.

As illustrated in diagram 250, the output layer 214 for time step t_(n)is configured to receive an input that includes the hidden state 225 andto generate a respective score for each of multiple possible values fora hyperparameter that represents which hidden state is used as a firstinput hidden state for an operation block (e.g., operation block 200 ofFIG. 2A). The source for the first input hidden state for the operationblock is selected from one or more of: (i) outputs generated by one ormore preceding convolutional cells in the sequence of convolutionalcells in the child CNN (ii) an input image of the child CNN, or (iii)output hidden states of preceding operation blocks in the sequence ofoperation blocks within the first convolutional cell.

The output layer 216 for time step t_(n+1) is configured to receive aninput that includes the hidden state 227 and to generate a respectivescore for each of multiple possible values for a hyperparameter thatrepresents which hidden state is used as a second input hidden state forthe operation block. The source for the second input hidden state forthe operation block selected from one or more of: (i) outputs generatedby one or more preceding convolutional cells in the sequence ofconvolutional cells, (ii) the input image, or (iii) output hidden statesof preceding operation blocks in the sequence of operation blocks withinthe convolutional cell.

The output layer 218 for time step t_(n+2) is configured to receive aninput that includes the hidden state 229 and to generate a respectivescore for each of multiple possible values for a hyperparameter thatrepresents an operation type for a first operation to be applied to thefirst input hidden state. The first operation can be selected from apredetermined set of convolutional neural network operations. Forexample, the predetermined set of convolutional neural networkoperations may include one or more of the following operations:identity, 1×7 then 7×1 convolution, 3×3 average pooling, 5×5 maxpooling, 1×1 convolution, 3×3 depthwise-separable convolution, 7×7depthwise-separable convolution, 1×3 then 3×1 convolution, 3×3 dilatedconvolution, 3×3 max pooling, 7×7 max pooling, 3×3 convolution, and 5×5depthwise-separable convolution.

The output layer 220 for time step t_(n+3) is configured to receive aninput that includes the hidden state 231 and to generate a respectivescore for each of multiple possible values for a hyperparameter thatrepresents an operation type for a second operation to be applied to thesecond input hidden state. The second operation can be selected from theabove predetermined set of convolutional neural network operations.

The output layer 222 for time step t_(n+4) is configured to receive aninput that includes the hidden state 233 and to generate a respectivescore for each of multiple possible values for a hyperparameter thatrepresents an operation type for a combining operation that is used tocombine the outputs of the first operation and the second operation togenerate a new hidden state for the operation block. The combiningoperation can be selected from a predetermined set of combiningoperations. For example, the predetermined set of combining operationsmay include (i) element-wise addition between two outputs, and (ii)concatenation between two outputs along the filter dimension.

The first convolutional cell is configured to generate the cell outputfor the cell input by combining output hidden states of blocks in thefirst convolutional cell that are not selected as inputs to any of theblocks in the first convolutional cell. For example, the firstconvolutional cell can concatenate all unused output hidden statestogether in depth to generate the final cell output.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example process for updating currentvalues of controller parameters of a controller neural network. Forconvenience, the process 300 will be described as being performed by asystem of one or more computers located in one or more locations. Forexample, a neural architecture search system, e.g., the neuralarchitecture search system 100 of FIG. 1 , appropriately programmed, canperform the process 300.

The system can repeatedly perform the process 300 to train thecontroller neural network, i.e., to determine trained values of thecontroller parameters from initial values of the controller parameters.

The system generates a batch of output sequences using the controllerneural network and in accordance with current values of the controllerparameters as of the iteration (step 302). Each output sequence in thebatch defines an architecture for a first convolutional cell that isconfigured to receive a cell input and to generate a cell output. Thecell output of the first convolutional cell can have a same height andwidth as the cell input.

In particular, each output sequence includes a respective output at eachof multiple time steps and each time step in the output sequencecorresponds to a different hyperparameter of the architecture of thefirst convolutional cell. Thus, each output sequence includes, at eachtime step, a respective value of the corresponding hyperparameter.Collectively, the values of the hyperparameters in a given outputsequence define an architecture for the first convolutional cell. Inparticular, because, as described above, the system samples from a scoredistribution when generating each hyperparameter value in an outputsequence, the sequences in the batch will generally be different eventhough they are each generated in accordance with the same controllerparameter values. The batch generally includes a pre-determined numberof output sequences, e.g., eight, sixteen, thirty-two, or sixty-foursequences.

For each output sequence in the batch, the system generates an instanceof a child CNN that includes multiple instances of the firstconvolutional cell having the architecture defined by the outputsequence (step 304). For example, the child CNN may include threeinstances of the first convolutional cell. The number of filters ofconvolutional operations within the instances of the first convolutionalcell may differ based on a position of the instances within the childCNN.

In some implementations, each output sequence in the batch furtherdefines an architecture for a second convolutional cell configured toreceive a second cell input and to generate a second cell output havinga smaller height, a smaller width, or both from the second cell input.In these implementations, an instance of the child CNN for each outputsequence also includes multiple instances of the second convolutionalcell having the architecture defined by the output sequence. Forexample, an instance of the child CNN may include (i) three instances ofthe first convolutional cell, and (ii) two or three instances of thesecond convolutional cell.

The system trains the instance of the child neural network to perform animage processing task (step 306). That is, for each output sequence inthe batch, the system generates an instance of the child CNN thatincludes multiple instances of the first convolutional cell having anarchitecture defined by the output sequence and trains the instance ofthe child CNN on the received training data to perform the particularneural network task. The system trains the instance of the child CNNusing a conventional machine learning training technique that isappropriate for the task, e.g., stochastic gradient descent withbackpropagation. In some implementations, the system parallelizes thetraining of the instances of the child CNN to decrease the overalltraining time for the controller neural network. The system can traineach instance of the child CNN for a specified amount of time (i.e.,training each instance until a specific amount of time has elapsed) orfor a specified number of training iterations. After the training,different instances of the first convolutional cell in the trainedinstance of the child CNN can have different parameter values.

For each output sequence in the batch, the system evaluates theperformance of the corresponding trained instance of the child CNN onthe image processing task to determine a performance metric for thetrained instance on the particular neural network task (step 308). Forexample, the performance metric can be an accuracy of the trainedinstance on the validation set as measured by an appropriate accuracymeasure. For example, the accuracy can be a classification error ratewhen the task is a classification task or an intersection over uniondifference measure when the task is a regression task. As anotherexample, the performance metric can be an average or a maximum of theaccuracies of the instance the instance for each of the last two, five,or ten epochs of the training of the instance.

The system uses the performance metrics for the trained instances of thechild CNN to adjust the current values of the controller parameters ofthe controller neural network (step 310).

In particular, the system adjusts the current values by training thecontroller neural network to generate output sequences that result inchild CNNs having increased performance metrics using a machine learningtechnique. More specifically, the system trains the controller neuralnetwork to generate output sequences that maximize a received rewardthat is determined based on the performance metrics of the trainedinstances. In particular, the reward for a given output sequence is afunction of the performance metric for the trained instance. Forexample, the reward can be one of: the performance metric, the square ofthe performance metric, the cube of the performance metric, the squareroot of the performance metric, and so on.

In some cases, the system trains the controller neural network tomaximize the expected reward using a policy gradient technique.

For example, the policy gradient technique can be a REINFORCE technique.For instance, the system can estimate the gradient of the expectedreward with respect to the controller parameters using an estimator ofthe gradient that satisfies:

$\frac{1}{m}{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{m}{\sum\limits_{t = 1}^{T}{\nabla_{\theta_{x}}\log| {P( {a_{t}| {a_{{({t - 1})} \cdot 1};\theta_{a}} )} )} )}}}( {R_{k} - b} ),$

where m is the number of sequences in the batch, T is the number of timesteps in each sequence in the batch, a_(t) is the output at time step tin a given output sequence, R_(k) is the reward for output sequence k,θ_(c) are the controller parameters, and b is a baseline function, e.g.,the exponential moving average of previous architecture accuracies.

As another example, the policy gradient technique can be a ProximalPolicy Optimization (PPO) technique. Specifically, the system can trainthe controller neural network using PPO by employing a global workqueuesystem for generating a pool of child CNNs controlled by the controllerneural network. The PPO technique is described in more detail in J.Schulman, F. Wolski, P. Dhariwal, A. Radford, and O. Klimov. Proximalpolicy optimization algorithms. arXiv preprint arXiv:1707.06347, 2017.

As yet another example, the policy gradient technique can be a TrustedRegion Policy Optimization (TRPO) technique, which is described indetail in John Schulman, Sergey Levine, Philipp Moritz, Michael I.Jordan, Pieter Abbeel, “Trust Region Policy Optimization,” Proceedingsof the 31^(st) International Conference on Machine Learning, Lille,France, 2015.

In some implementations, the system trains the controller neural networkin a distributed manner. That is, the system maintains multiple replicasof the controller neural network and updates the parameters values ofthe replicas asynchronously during the training. That is, the system canperform the steps 302-308 asynchronously for each replica and can updatethe controller parameters using the gradients determined for each of thereplicas.

After training, the system can generate an architecture for the firstconvolutional cell using the adjusted values of the controllerparameters.

In some cases, the system can then generate a computationally-efficientarchitecture of a convolutional neural network that includes fewerinstances of the first convolutional cell than the child CNN instances,where the instances of the first convolutional cell have the generatedarchitecture. This technique allows the system to leverage theadditional computational capacity available during the evaluation whilestill keeping the final architecture sufficiently computationallyefficient so as to be deployed on a mobile device or in anotherresource-constrained environment.

In some other cases, the system can generate a larger architecture of aconvolutional neural network that includes more instances of the firstconvolutional cell than the child CNN instances for use in a morecomplex image processing task, where the instances of the firstconvolutional cell have the generated architecture. This techniqueimproves the computational efficiency of the process and allows thesystem to be able to achieve high performance without needing torepeatedly evaluate the larger architecture during the process.

This specification uses the term “configured” in connection with systemsand computer program components. For a system of one or more computersto be configured to perform particular operations or actions means thatthe system has installed on it software, firmware, hardware, or acombination of them that in operation cause the system to perform theoperations or actions. For one or more computer programs to beconfigured to perform particular operations or actions means that theone or more programs include instructions that, when executed by dataprocessing apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the operations oractions.

Embodiments of the subject matter and the functional operationsdescribed in this specification can be implemented in digital electroniccircuitry, in tangibly-embodied computer software or firmware, incomputer hardware, including the structures disclosed in thisspecification and their structural equivalents, or in combinations ofone or more of them. Embodiments of the subject matter described in thisspecification can be implemented as one or more computer programs, i.e.,one or more modules of computer program instructions encoded on atangible non transitory storage medium for execution by, or to controlthe operation of, data processing apparatus. The computer storage mediumcan be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readable storagesubstrate, a random or serial access memory device, or a combination ofone or more of them. Alternatively or in addition, the programinstructions can be encoded on an artificially generated propagatedsignal, e.g., a machine-generated electrical, optical, orelectromagnetic signal, that is generated to encode information fortransmission to suitable receiver apparatus for execution by a dataprocessing apparatus.

The term “data processing apparatus” refers to data processing hardwareand encompasses all kinds of apparatus, devices, and machines forprocessing data, including by way of example a programmable processor, acomputer, or multiple processors or computers. The apparatus can alsobe, or further include, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA(field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application specificintegrated circuit). The apparatus can optionally include, in additionto hardware, code that creates an execution environment for computerprograms, e.g., code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocolstack, a database management system, an operating system, or acombination of one or more of them.

A computer program, which may also be referred to or described as aprogram, software, a software application, an app, a module, a softwaremodule, a script, or code, can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, or declarative orprocedural languages; and it can be deployed in any form, including as astand alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unitsuitable for use in a computing environment. A program may, but neednot, correspond to a file in a file system. A program can be stored in aportion of a file that holds other programs or data, e.g., one or morescripts stored in a markup language document, in a single file dedicatedto the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files, e.g.,files that store one or more modules, sub programs, or portions of code.A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or onmultiple computers that are located at one site or distributed acrossmultiple sites and interconnected by a data communication network.

In this specification, the term “database” is used broadly to refer toany collection of data: the data does not need to be structured in anyparticular way, or structured at all, and it can be stored on storagedevices in one or more locations. Thus, for example, the index databasecan include multiple collections of data, each of which may be organizedand accessed differently.

Similarly, in this specification the term “engine” is used broadly torefer to a software-based system, subsystem, or process that isprogrammed to perform one or more specific functions. Generally, anengine will be implemented as one or more software modules orcomponents, installed on one or more computers in one or more locations.In some cases, one or more computers will be dedicated to a particularengine; in other cases, multiple engines can be installed and running onthe same computer or computers.

The processes and logic flows described in this specification can beperformed by one or more programmable computers executing one or morecomputer programs to perform functions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA or an ASIC, or by acombination of special purpose logic circuitry and one or moreprogrammed computers.

Computers suitable for the execution of a computer program can be basedon general or special purpose microprocessors or both, or any other kindof central processing unit. Generally, a central processing unit willreceive instructions and data from a read only memory or a random accessmemory or both. The essential elements of a computer are a centralprocessing unit for performing or executing instructions and one or morememory devices for storing instructions and data. The central processingunit and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, specialpurpose logic circuitry. Generally, a computer will also include, or beoperatively coupled to receive data from or transfer data to, or both,one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g., magnetic,magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computer need nothave such devices. Moreover, a computer can be embedded in anotherdevice, e.g., a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), amobile audio or video player, a game console, a Global PositioningSystem (GPS) receiver, or a portable storage device, e.g., a universalserial bus (USB) flash drive, to name just a few.

Computer readable media suitable for storing computer programinstructions and data include all forms of non volatile memory, mediaand memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memorydevices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks,e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto optical disks; andCD ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments of the subjectmatter described in this specification can be implemented on a computerhaving a display device, e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquidcrystal display) monitor, for displaying information to the user and akeyboard and a pointing device, e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by whichthe user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices canbe used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example,feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, e.g.,visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input fromthe user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, ortactile input. In addition, a computer can interact with a user bysending documents to and receiving documents from a device that is usedby the user; for example, by sending web pages to a web browser on auser’s device in response to requests received from the web browser.Also, a computer can interact with a user by sending text messages orother forms of message to a personal device, e.g., a smartphone that isrunning a messaging application, and receiving responsive messages fromthe user in return.

Data processing apparatus for implementing machine learning models canalso include, for example, special-purpose hardware accelerator unitsfor processing common and compute-intensive parts of machine learningtraining or production, i.e., inference, workloads.

Machine learning models can be implemented and deployed using a machinelearning framework, e.g., a TensorFlow framework, a Microsoft CognitiveToolkit framework, an Apache Singa framework, or an Apache MXNetframework.

Embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification can beimplemented in a computing system that includes a back end component,e.g., as a data server, or that includes a middleware component, e.g.,an application server, or that includes a front end component, e.g., aclient computer having a graphical user interface, a web browser, or anapp through which a user can interact with an implementation of thesubject matter described in this specification, or any combination ofone or more such back end, middleware, or front end components. Thecomponents of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium ofdigital data communication, e.g., a communication network. Examples ofcommunication networks include a local area network (LAN) and a widearea network (WAN), e.g., the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other. In someembodiments, a server transmits data, e.g., an HTML page, to a userdevice, e.g., for purposes of displaying data to and receiving userinput from a user interacting with the device, which acts as a client.Data generated at the user device, e.g., a result of the userinteraction, can be received at the server from the device.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details,these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of anyinvention or on the scope of what may be claimed, but rather asdescriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodimentsof particular inventions. Certain features that are described in thisspecification in the context of separate embodiments can also beimplemented in combination in a single embodiment.

Conversely, various features that are described in the context of asingle embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodimentsseparately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, althoughfeatures may be described above as acting in certain combinations andeven initially be claimed as such, one or more features from a claimedcombination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and theclaimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation ofa subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings and recited inthe claims in a particular order, this should not be understood asrequiring that such operations be performed in the particular ordershown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations beperformed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances,multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, theseparation of various system modules and components in the embodimentsdescribed above should not be understood as requiring such separation inall embodiments, and it should be understood that the described programcomponents and systems can generally be integrated together in a singlesoftware product or packaged into multiple software products.

Particular embodiments of the subject matter have been described. Otherembodiments are within the scope of the following claims. For example,the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a different orderand still achieve desirable results. As one example, the processesdepicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require theparticular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirableresults. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may beadvantageous.

1. A method comprising: generating, using a controller neural networkhaving a plurality of controller parameters and in accordance withcurrent values of the controller parameters, a batch of outputsequences, each output sequence in the batch defining an architecturefor a first convolutional cell configured to receive a cell input and togenerate a cell output, and the first convolutional cell comprising asequence of a predetermined number of operation blocks that each receiveone or more respective input hidden states and generate a respectiveoutput hidden state; for each output sequence in the batch: generatingan instance of a child convolutional neural network that includesmultiple instances of the first convolutional cell having thearchitecture defined by the output sequence; training the instance ofthe child convolutional neural network to perform an image processingtask; and evaluating a performance of the trained instance of the childconvolutional neural network on the image processing task to determine aperformance metric for the trained instance of the child convolutionalneural network; and using the performance metrics for the trainedinstances of the child convolutional neural network to adjust thecurrent values of the controller parameters of the controller neuralnetwork.